Your SID level experiences

[ErikM]

Standard map, 70% water continents, sedentary barbs, 7 civs.

[vmxa1]

Cool.

[Drachen]

Hey Erik: Your 1000BC situation looks really strong. Good cash flow and bankroll. I agree that starting with alphabet may be essential but prefer to try to get writing first as the alphabet easily trades for masonry and the resource techs. I wish you luck in your hunt for the GL. My experience on standard maps was that the AI got to literature too fast and usually I lost the GL within 10 -15 turns of completion, but I wasn’t fomenting wars like you have been so that may well help you out. Keep us posted.

[Drachen]

Hey Vmxa1; Got any good war stories? You show Sid whose boss yet? Lord knows I haven't, although I think I may Have a good shot at it with my current game.

[Paddy]

Go get 'em Erik

[Drachen]

Originally posted by Paddy the Scot
Go get 'em Erik

Hail Britannia Paddy: I hope your Napoleonic exploits are going well.

[Paddy]

Thanks Drachen....

Well the 1st Sid level game as England in the Single Player Napoleonic scenario finished very badly.... My fleets saved the day time and again, but with the combined resources of the whole of Euraope, Napoleon and his ever slavish allies soon took my beloved homelands.... and I was taken away for a serious beating...

Yet I persisted and tried again, let me just say I enjoyed the 1st game compared to my defeat in this one...

Persistance would be but an utterance if I did not try again, so I have game 3 under way at the moment... hope is a bright future that I look too

Over in the PBEM world, a group of us started The Second Coalition - 22 June 1799.
This is a game with all of the setting for a SID level AI.
Here we matched up:

King Paddy III of England
Czar Pinko I of Russia (Supplemented by the Iron Prince Jackson)
King Bongo II of Prussia
King Chrisius IV of Spain
Sultan Wittlich of the Ottoman Empire
Shogun Gunner of Austria
And His Excellency, Cardinal Lacey of the Vatican

We have been battling SID level AI in Napoleon and his faithful (locked in) ally, Gustav of Sweden.

You will be happy to note that Napoleon has been wiped from Europe, actually so has the City of Paris, and the country of France... Louis was a bit sad, but well these things do happen.

At this time we are hunting down that Rogue, Gustav.

Now I must tell you that we were able to take Napoleon resonably quickly, as we had a coalition, and we went him hard, thus robbing him of valuable time to build his forces.

Early in this game there was some debate on if we had all of the settings correct for this to be a SID level PBEM. Some assistance was called for on Changing the Agression Level in PBEM games. We believe that we had it all correct, yet still some doubts lingered. We even sent a message through to Fireaxis, but have had no reply yet.

All in all, Sid is a bugger in the Napoleonic Scenario, and I would really like to take him and some of the other countries in Europe on in PBEM, yet I do not trust that the editor is able to really adjust it all to SID level at this time.

Thos single player games are Hard

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Drachen
Hey Vmxa1; Got any good war stories? You show Sid whose boss yet? Lord knows I haven't, although I think I may Have a good shot at it with my current game.

Yeah I shoed all right. I held up the mirror and then I shined his shoes and beg for mercy.

I am not sure what tact to take next. That is why I have been asking about map settings and such. To see what others are finding out works or does not work.

I am not sold on the island maps, but honestly have not tried one on a large or huge map. My thinking is that invasion of Sid level civs will be unbearable from an island.

I like the idea of ErikM of having some civs on your land for contacts and trades, if you can do it quickly. After a short time the AI will have all the first and second tier techs, so you will not be able to trade any.

The problem is if you are in a spot liek that you could get killed.
It would be hard to find location that let you survive the early contact.

I still don't know if it is useful to have any changes in things like number of civs, aggression and barbs.

So I am trying to come up with an idea that is worth trying and is not cheating. I mean, I would not add stuf or play against a few civs that were stuck on island and that sort of thing.

So anyone have any ideas?

[vmxa1]

Paddy the Scot sounds like you guys had fun, but I think Sir Ralph was correct. Even at Sid the AI can't beat 6 humans bent on destruction.

Are you saying you played the scenario as an SP game for the first run as England? Or was it also a group effort?

[Paddy]

Yes it does look as if Sir Ralph was correct. May he life long and prosper

In the Sid level PBEM against Napoleon we did have history to assist us. We knew to blockade France from Prussia. As Prussia had just come out of a ten year armistace, where they had lowered their armed forces to approx 10% of their size. And we knew we had to get Napoleon hard and get him fast...

I have been involved in four games so far at Sid Level on the Napoleonic Scenario...

3 as single player... ouch
1 in the PBEM...
I have been England in each of these four.
I played a single player one prior to the PBEM, another during the PBEM, and have started the third one now that the PBEM is coming to an end.

I am in three other PBEMs for this scenario, these are standard PBEM settings:
1. I am the Ottoman's, all main players human. Sweden as AI
2. I am France, the other player is England, the rest AI
3. I am England, the other player is Russia, the rest AI

[DrSpike]

Is it 6 V 1? Cowards.

[Paddy]

Cowards is it...

We were trying to see if Sid could really be a good as Napoleon

The Coalition we formed actually existed

[Drachen]

Originally posted by Paddy the Scot
Cowards is it...

We were trying to see if Sid could really be a good as Napoleon

The Coalition we formed actually existed

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers:
For he to day that sheds his blood with me,
Shall be my brother: be he ne're so vile,
This day shall gentle his Condition."

Four games to date? Civilization awaits the fell deeds and valiant words of Paddy the Fifth.

[Drachen]

Originally posted by vmxa1


Yeah I shoed all right. I held up the mirror and then I shined his shoes and beg for mercy.

[Drachen]

Originally posted by vmxa1

I am not sure what tact to take next. That is why I have been asking about map settings and such. To see what others are finding out works or does not work.

I am not sold on the island maps, but honestly have not tried one on a large or huge map. My thinking is that invasion of Sid level civs will be unbearable from an island.

This is a large archipelago with 70% water and this particular map has an isthmus which is one of the key features I’ve been looking for. My turf is rather poor actually with lots of plains and a dense marsh separating me from my only luxury but I was able to place Bombay, my second city, in a strategically vital spot. This is where the hammer will fall if the Aztecs don’t get around to crushing me before I’m ready. It may not be clear from the mini-map but I’m connected to all of the Aztecs and some of the Persians turf. The Aztecs are at peace and gracious towards me. They have also fallen very far behind in tech while I have the GL and am even with the leaders. I expect Chivalry/War Elephants soon and am just starting my military/infrastructure build up post rex. I will start with Republic and try to set up a killing zone in Bombay based on forested access tiles, Elephants, and bombard units with multiple allies. I hope to keep my military at parity with the unit support limits and concentrate on economic growth to fuel tech theft/trade. If I can take over the continent and keep building infrastructure then I may be able to switch to researching my own techs later. This map has one other major advantage in that all of the other major landmasses are relatively close to mine which should ease later invasions and help curb the rise of KAIs. Suggestions are welcome.